Recipes Lifestyle and Tips

Spanish Fish Stew

Today I would like to share with you a typical Spanish dish, that I have adapted slightly to be just a little bit healthier. It’s origin is in the north of the country, which being on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, it has one of the most stunning cooking styles (and ingredients) in the world.

This is a dish that can be prepared in advanced, making it very handy when you have people over, but also very good to have a warm delicious dinner waiting for you at home during the week. It is a bit time consuming, and has one step that even if it’s difficult, it can be intimidating for beginners…

Ingredients (serves 5):

100 gr of prawns (uncooked)

250 gr clams (with shell)

100 gr calamari rings

100 gr. mussels

250 gr monkfish (or hake if you can’t find it or as a cheaper alternative)

2 leeks

2 onions

1 carrot

A pinch of tarragon

1/2 a small glass of Brandy

1 cup fresh chopped tomato

2 cubes of fish stock

1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kitchen equipment: a blender and a match

First prepare the fish stock. Traditional recipes can be found to do this the old fashion way, I personally don’t have the time and I always find it impossible to make it taste strong enough, so I cheat and use fish stock cubes. 2 dissolved in 1 liter of hot water. Be my guest if you want to create your own fumee… you have all my respect!

Once the stock is ready and waiting to be used, we need to peel, clean and chop roughly our onions, leeks and carrot and cook them on medium heat until they are soft, then add salt and a pinch of tarragon. Bring up the temperature to the max and after 1 minute, add the brandy liquor and be prepared with the match. Light it up and let the alcohol burn until the flame dies for itself, it wont take more than a few seconds, don’t worry.

Then add the tomato and mix and immediately after, the fish stock. Bring back to medium heat and let boil for another 20 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and chop the fish and the seafood except the clams, that should remain in water until it’s time to use them. Add salt and pepper to the fish and reserve.

When the soup is ready, blend it all together until smooth and then add the clams, and then the seafood and fish. Then try the it and correct the salt only if necessary. Let cook for 3 more minutes and leave it to rest until cool. You can serve immediately, but I recommend waiting until the next meal time or even next day. You can also freeze it in portions.

Normally the recipe has bread to thicken the sauce, I have added one more onion for this purpose to avoid unnecessary carbs.

This is an absolutely delicious treat for those in a diet, and simply for anyone looking to impress dinner invitees!